Spooked Vijay Mallya responds to PM Modi's 'he owed Rs 9000 cr, we recovered Rs 14,000 crore' statement to Republic, asks why he's still the 'poster boy'

Former Kingfisher boss Vijay Mallya, accused of defrauding Indian banks a tune of Rs 9,000 crores, has accepted each and every claim made on him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first election interview with Republic Media Network's editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.

Taking to Twitter, the absconding economic fugitive has concurred with PM Modi's remark that the Indian agencies have recovered Rs 14,000 crores of him, even as the agecnies put all their efforts in making sure he is extradited to India.

 He then followed it up with another tweet, mentioning that he is being unfairly treated even as the Indian agencies have recovered more than what he had ran away with.

READ: PM Modi Interview: "He Owed Rs 9000 Crore, But Government Recovered Rs 14,000 Crore," Says PM Modi On India's Action Against Vijay Mallya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking exclusively to Republic Media Network, had expressed satisfaction over the fact that the extradition process concerning the former Kingfisher boss is in its final stages, and that the money recovered from Mallya is a big win for India.

"We brought in a law that enabled the Indian government to confiscate property of fugitives in any part of the world. You must've seen in the case of Vijay Mallya. He owed banks Rs 9000 crore but the government has confiscated his properties worth Rs 14,000 crore from across the world. Now, he is in trouble because we are taking double the amount," said the Prime Minister.

Mallya, who had taken hefty loans from a host of Indian banks during the UPA regime, fled from the country in 2016. But the BJP government came up with stringent laws, which meant that the Kingfisher boss was put in the 'economic offender' category, meaning that the Indian agencies could confiscate his properties to recover the loan amount, apart from continuing in their efforts to bring him back to India.

The former Kingfisher Airlines boss has filed an application seeking permission to appeal against his extradition order signed off by UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid last month. 

A UK judiciary spokesperson confirmed last week that all the papers have been received and are now awaiting allocation to a single High Court judge who will decide, on the basis of those papers, if permission is given to go to a full hearing.

If the application is accepted, the case will proceed to a "substantive hearing" in the next few months' time. In the event that Mallya's application is rejected at this stage, he will have the option to submit for a "renewal".

(With inputs from PTI)